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Forum:MGS franchise's portrayal of soldiers
Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of the MGS franchise and I love the games, but I think MGS' portrayal of soldiers as "tools of the government" is quite disrespectful toward soldiers in real life. The way Kojima makes it sound, people join the military simply to serve their government's will, when in RL that simply isn't the case. People join for various reasons, such as national pride, economic gain, the natural urge to protect loved ones, etc., etc.. It seems apparent to me that Kojima may not have a complete grasp of the many reasons one could have for becoming a soldier and sees fit to demonize it. I'm not saying there should be US Army or J-SDF recruiting posters on the walls in an MGS game or anything like that, but on a personal level I think Kojima has a negative attitude toward soldiers. The same thing goes for the contractors (aka "mercenaries") in MGS4. They're portrayed as bloodthirsty killers, when that isn't necessarily the case in RL. Sure, there are bad apples, just like in the state military, police force, and even the cub scouts. But this doesn't go for every single person in the business, does it? Meryl, and by extension Kojima himself, claims the contractors in MGS4 fight merely for the highest bidder, not out of national pride or anything like that, but I ask you this: How exactly is she supposed to know why they fight? Is she psychically connected to them to the point that she knows their reasons for doing anything? No, she's not. The fact is that she (and also by extension Kojima) does not and cannot understand one's choice for joining an organization like Blackwater/Xe or Triple Canopy, and so hypocritically applies her own sense of morality to others' choices in order to demonize said choices. Ghost Leader :You've misinterpreted Kojima's "tools of the government" stance. He's not saying people join the military simply to serve their government blindy, he's saying the government use their soldiers as tools, with little actual care for them. This idea is executed perfectly with The Boss, who fought for her country and for what she believed in, but was ultimatley betrayed and killed by her own government just so they could get their hands on a large amount of money. :As for the second paragraph, I think the whole "fight for the highest bidder" is an extension of MGS4's war economy. What you need to remember with MGS4 is that in their world, the entire economy revolves around War. While Meryl may not fully understand every soldiers reason for fighting, the flipside is that we cannot fully comprehend Meryl's stance, because we do not know a world where the economy revolves completely around war. --Fantomas 18:53, 4 July 2009 (UTC) ::Thanks for bringing up such a great topic. I think Kojima gets the fact that in RL it's much more complicated than good guy/bad guy just look at the development of big boss or Ocelot. In MGS4 you could argue that the different factions represented each of the reasons you presented. So while the way the contractors were represented may have been unfair, there was a message to get across too. http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/03/finance-threat/ --Drawde83 03:21, 5 July 2009 (UTC) It would also be wise to remember that economic gain, national pride and protecting loved ones are all "tools" of any goverment to get the people to do excatly what they want. Ask yourself, what is national pride? Being british, we have litlle to be proud of, only what were told to be proud of, for example, WWII, where the goverment and great Winston Churchill saved the world, but in reality a real national hero is Oliver Cromwell, who you can associate with freedom of speach and people power but little is taught of him because what he did goes against everything in todays society that our government created. Its called Socalism and its happening all around us, you americans have it worst, your politicains lie to you day in day out calling your country a democracy when in fact your a republic. lies lies lies.